Why Me, Lord?

The Father’s Plan, Predestination, and Providence
(Ephesians 1:3-14, Preaching: Pastor Nathan Snyder, October 1, 2017)

³ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,⁴ even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love ⁵ he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, ⁶ to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. ⁷ In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, ⁸ which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight ⁹ making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ ¹⁰ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

¹¹ In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, ¹² so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. ¹³ In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, ¹⁴ who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

When trials come into our lives, we might ask God, “Why me, Lord?  Why is this happening to me?”  May the Lord strengthen us to trust him as we consider from this passage the sovereign plan, predestination, and providence of our loving heavenly Father.

The Father’s Plan

God the Father has an eternal plan.  Verse 5: “according to the purpose [good pleasure] of his will [what God has determined to accomplish.”  Verse 11: “according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel [purposed plan] of his will.”  Verses 9-10: “making known to us the mystery [something God is revealing which was previously unknown to us] of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.”  The Father is planning to do something, namely to unite all things in Christ.  God has planned every detail of history toward the goal of bringing everything he has made, both in the physical and the spiritual realm, under the lordship of Christ.

For those who willingly submit to Christ’s lordship over their lives, this plan of God will mean everlasting joy.  For those who persist in wanting to be their own lord and master, this will mean everlasting suffering, because when God unites all things under Christ, this will mean that those who have refused to surrender to his lordship now will fall under his judgment, since he is the only rightful King.  Have you surrendered to the lordship of Jesus, God’s anointed King?  If you have, you have nothing to fear when he returns.  Rather, the coming of Christ is our hope, because he will set all things in the world, and in our lives, to right.

The Father’s Predestination

God the Father has predestined people for salvation according to his plan.  We see this in verses 4-5, and again in verse 11.  If God had only planned to send his Son into the world to set things right, but had not planned to first send his Son into the world to bring salvation, then all of us would be destroyed by Christ, for we are all guilty of sin in trying to be our own lord.  Yet God sent his Son into the world first not to condemn the world but to save it by dying on the cross in our place.  The very King appointed by God to bring judgment upon the rebellious was first appointed by God to die the rebel’s death to save guilty rebels like you and me.  Listen to the words of Acts 4:27-28.  “[F]or truly in this city [Jerusalem] there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.”  The people who killed Jesus were guilty of their crime.  At the same time, they were carrying out God’s eternal plan to bring salvation to guilty rebels all over the world, all who repent of their rebellion, and receive Jesus alone as God’s appointed Savior and King.

Ephesians 1 makes clear that not only did God plan to send his Son to bring salvation, but he also chose individuals for salvation in Christ before the foundation of the world.  A key component of his plan to unite all things under Christ was to save through Christ people from all over the world, people whom he predestined to be adopted as his children.  God’s predestination causally precedes our receiving Christ by faith.  God does not predestine us because he saw that we would submit to Christ’s lordship.  He has predestined those who will submit to Christ, and then in time his Spirit brings those whom he has predestined to believe the gospel and surrender to Christ.  This is why in Acts 13:48, Luke records that “when the Gentiles heard this [the good news of salvation through Jesus which Paul had preached], they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed.”  We are responsible to believe the good news of salvation through Jesus.  We are responsible to turn away from seeking to rule our own lives and submit instead to Jesus’ lordship.  Yet those who do so have been chosen by God before the foundation of the world.  So all the credit goes to him for our salvation.  Knowing this ought to produce in us great humility before God and other people, and great delight in knowing that unworthy though we may be, God has selected us to be his beloved children.

The Father’s Providence

God the Father is providentially working all things according to his plan.  When Paul says God is working “all things” according to the counsel of his will (verse 11), he means everything, just as “all things” in verse 10 refers to everything being brought under Christ’s lordship.  On the larger scale, this means God is working all things to bring about the salvation of all this chosen people, and to bring the world under the lordship of Christ.  On a smaller scale, this means God is working all things for our personal eternal profit.  If we are trusting in Jesus as our Savior and King, and thus have God as our Father, this is a tremendous comfort.  When we face the painful trials of life, when we rise and when we fall, and when all seems to be crashing down around us, we have this truth to stand upon.  Our Father who loves us, who chose us to be his children, who sent his Son to die for us, who by his Spirit drew us to himself, is working every detail of our lives in such a way that it will bring about the greatest good for us.  That good, Paul says in Romans 8:29, is to make us like Jesus, or as Paul puts it here in verse 4, the good is to make us holy.  This will lead to our everlasting joy.  Let us then ask, “Why me, Lord?  Why am I chosen for salvation?  Why did you predestine me to be your child?  Why did you send your perfect Son to pay my debt?  Why have you given me an eternal inheritance?  Why me, Lord?”  And we can rest in knowing that in his Fatherly wisdom, God is lovingly bringing into our lives just the right trials for us in his gracious work to teach us to trust him, cling in faith to Christ, and become more like him in character, which will lead to our everlasting joy.